49. Let me know if you guys see any major typos or grammatical errors. It'll be a huge help.
(3rd)
For what seemed like an eternity, mother and daughter circled each other, their eyes locked. Himari's brow furrowed in concentration, her eyes gleaming with determination. She held her shield and sword close, ready to defend and attack at a moment's notice. Her stance was relaxed yet stable, prepared for combat at a moment's notice.
In contrast, Fubuki's expression was serene and unreadable, her eyes giving absolutely nothing away. She held her spear near the middle of the shaft, the rest behind her back and the tip pointing to the ground, her stance loose and casual.
After some time, Fubuki's expression and stance subtly shifted ever so slightly. Most wouldn't have noticed, but Cain, Rion, and Himari did, the latter tensing in anticipation of what was to come.
Moments later, faster than the eye could follow, Fubuki thrust her spear forward, the tip extending toward Himari and crossing the distance in a fraction of a second.
Reacting quickly, Himari smacked the spear aside and charged toward her mother, closing the gap between them in seconds.
She lunged forward, aiming her sword at her mother's center mass. Fubuki effortlessly caught the blade, stopping her daughter's momentum dead in its tracks.
Disappointment flickered in Fubuki's eyes as she looked at Himari, her lips thinning into a disapproving line.
"You can do better than that, my child," she said, chiding her youngest with a calm tone, yet there was an unmistakable undertone of coldness in her voice.
Fubuki yanked Himari forward, causing her to stumble and lose her balance, then drove her knee into her youngest child's solar plexus, making her gasp for air.
She pushed Himari back and backhanded her across the face, sending blood flying from her mouth, before grabbing her by the collar, spinning, and throwing her at a nearby tree.
Himari's back slammed against the tree with brutal force, the impact snapping its upper half backward into the tree directly behind it.
As soon as she hit the ground, Himari scrambled to her feet and dodged to the left, barely avoiding her mother's spear as it pierced the air where she had just been standing.
The young Azuma's sword arm abruptly transformed into a quad rocket launcher. She aimed at her mother and fired four rockets from each barrel, sending a barrage of explosive projectiles toward her.
Fubuki, never breaking eye contact with Himari, calmly aimed her spear at the incoming rockets, and several orange-yellow orbs shot forth, destroying most of them in mid-air.
For the remaining rockets, she cast a force field around herself. The rockets exploded on impact, releasing harmless smoke instead of energy, causing Fubuki's eyes to narrow.
Before she could dwell on it, she sensed a new barrage of projectiles speeding toward her with incredible velocity. The force field began to crack and buckle as rocket after rocket struck and exploded against it.
A second later, Fubuki jumped back as her force field shattered completely, raising her spear to block an incoming attack from Himari, whose weapon arm had transformed into a gigantic warhammer.
Before Fubuki could counter, Himari's left arm transformed into a shotgun and fired point-blank at her face. The attack did little damage physically; Fubuki's beautiful features remained intact, with only a few superficial scratches.
However, it stunned her just long enough for Himari to swiftly strike Fubuki with her warhammer, sending her flying backward. Fubuki crashed through several trees before hitting the ground, appearing relatively unharmed, though a thin trail of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
She wiped the blood away with the back of her hand, her lips curling into a nearly imperceptible smile—one of pride and a hint of bloodlust.
"Congratulations, child. You're the third person to have made me bleed," Fubuki stated softly, yet loud enough for Himari to clearly hear. "Out of respect for your efforts, I'll use five percent of my power."
As she spoke, Fubuki appeared in front of Himari, whose eyes comically widened in surprise and horror as her mother seemingly teleported across the battlefield.
Before she could react, Fubuki's fist shot out with blinding speed, impacting squarely against Himari's jaw and sending her tumbling backward thirty meters.
[With Cain, Rion, and Maia]
As the mother and daughter fought, Cain and the two women moved to a better vantage point. Rion visibly winced as Fubuki sent Himari flying back with a single punch.
Cain and Maia, however, remained calm, watching analytically.
"Yikes. Fubuki has certainly gotten more vicious over the years," Rion commented, feeling a pang of sympathy for Himari. "How long do you think she'll last?" she asked Cain, her eyes fixed on the one-sided massacre. "I'll give her five more minutes, tops."
"You underestimate her far too much. She'll go for fifteen or more," Cain said confidently.
Rion quirked an eyebrow, glancing skeptically at the older man. "That's awfully optimistic."
"It's not optimism; it's just a fact. I've been training her for about two months, and in that time, she's made leaps and bounds," he said, pride evident in his voice. "She might not defeat Fubuki, but I know she'll put up one hell of a fight before she goes down."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Then I've failed to do my job." Cain shrugged nonchalantly, the corner of his lip twitching upward into a slight smirk. "It's a good thing that isn't the case, though."
Rion paused for a moment before playfully remarking, "Well, it's a good thing for me that this bet isn't official then, eh?"
Cain grinned knowingly. "Indeed it is."
"Out of curiosity, what's the first thing you're planning to do as the new head of the Azumas?" Maia perked up slightly at Rion's sudden question.
Cain considered her question thoughtfully for a moment. "Well, the first thing I'd do is get the sticks out of their asses." Rion chuckled, while Maia's eyes twitched almost imperceptibly. "I'll especially punish the Loli, Fubuki, and that spiky bitch for how they've been treating Himari."
Rion smirked and nodded approvingly. "Can I watch?"
"I don't see why not."
[Back with Himari & Fubuki]
The clash between the estranged mother and daughter had escalated dramatically.
The once beautiful and dense forest was gone, the trees either charred lumps or utterly destroyed by fire and explosives, smoke filling the air and obscuring the sky. The ground was black and ashy, riddled with craters and cracks.
Fubuki had sustained some bruises and cuts, and her uniform looked worse for wear, but she was relatively unscathed. Himari, on the other hand, looked as if she had been mauled by a horde of Shuuki and then subjected to one of Cain's hellish training regimes.
Most of her body was covered in dark bruises, lacerations, burn marks, and blood, with small chunks of flesh missing from various places. Her jacket was gone, leaving her in a tattered white undershirt; the edges of her skirt were burnt and torn, and her boots were destroyed, leaving her barefoot.
Every movement sent sharp pain through her abused body, but Himari pushed forward, ignoring her injuries. Her expression remained hardened and focused, her stance stable, ready to move, defend, or attack.
Fubuki looked at her daughter, outwardly indifferent as always but inwardly filled with complicated emotions.
For the longest time, her youngest daughter had been her greatest failure, shame, and regret. Despite having her blood, the best education, and training, Himari had never reached the same level of greatness as her older sisters.
Himari was intelligent, strong, and willful, yet she wasn't peerless like the others. She didn't excel as rapidly as her sisters, nor did she strive for greatness. She didn't mind being second best and didn't have ambitious goals. Himari was an oddity among the Azumas.
The Azumas didn't like oddities.
They expected the best and nothing less. To be anything less was to be worthless. The world didn't need any more worthless individuals; it already had plenty.
However, something deep within Fubuki wavered as she looked at Himari. She knew she would be the victor, regardless of how strong her youngest had become.
What she hadn't expected was how much of a fight Himari would put up against her.
Neither of her oldest daughters had lasted this long against her, much less drawn blood from her. Yet Himari, her greatest shame, had fought her for half an hour and made her bleed.
She had done what neither of the other two could achieve.
Fubuki felt something she hadn't truly felt for Himari in a long time: motherly pride. But she also felt melancholy and regret, as she wasn't the one responsible for Himari's progress.
That honor belonged to Cain.
A man.
The irony wasn't lost on her.
She was beginning to see things much more clearly than before. There wasn't anything wrong with Himari. She wasn't weaker or less talented than her older sisters; she was just different, requiring a different approach.
Fubuki felt ashamed for failing to understand that.
No longer seeing the need to continue the pointless fight, Fubuki dismissed her weapon, confusing her youngest daughter.
"Enough. You've fought well, Himari," Fubuki said gently yet pridefully, her expression softening as she truly saw Himari for the first time. "More so than I ever expected. I forfeit."
"W-What?" Himari's eyes widened in confusion and disbelief, her arms dropping to her sides. "Why are you forfeiting?"
She couldn't understand why her mother, of all people, would willingly forfeit the opportunity to become the next head. While she would lose anyway, considering Cain was participating, the point remained.
"It's pointless," Fubuki said honestly. "Regardless of the outcome of our fight, Cain becomes the head either way. I'm simply accelerating the process. Besides, you've proven yourself more than enough." She smiled sadly at her daughter. "I'm proud of you, Himari."
Himari swallowed hard, hearing her mother's words, her lips trembling. She had wanted to hear those words from her mother for as long as she could remember. And finally, after all this time, she said it.
Himari wanted to scoff and appear indifferent. She wanted to say she didn't care whether she was proud of her or not. But she couldn't bring herself to do it.
As much as she hated to admit it and wanted to reject the notion, she had always wanted her mother's approval. Himari used to want to be just like her mother when she was younger, and she still did to an extent.
However, she was also incredibly angry—no, "angry" wasn't the correct word to describe how she felt. She was beyond furious. Why? Why did it take her this long to say it?
Why did it take her many sleepless nights, constant humiliation, and pain on a physical, mental, and emotional level for her to finally hear the words "I'm proud of you"?
Unable to handle the overwhelming wave of intense and complicated emotions washing over her, Himari screamed at the top of her lungs and tackled her mother to the ground. Fubuki saw this coming a mile away yet allowed it to happen.
Himari sat up, glared at her mother with pure animosity, and viciously pummeled her face with her fists. As she did this, Himari screamed and cursed at her mother with every ounce of remaining strength she had.
"DOES THIS MAKE YOU PROUD?! HUH, MOM?! DOES THIS MAKE YOU FUCKING PROUD OF ME?!" Himari's strikes became harder and faster, each hit causing blood to coat her fists and splatter against her chest or the ground in a gruesome display. "WELL?! ANSWER ME, DAMN IT!" she demanded, screaming, her voice raw and full of pent-up emotion, as tears began to run down her face uncontrollably.
Himari continued to scream and punch her mother relentlessly, while Fubuki never said a word to defend herself, allowing the beating to continue because she deserved it.
She had been a terrible mother to Himari her entire life, and no amount of words could ever justify her cruel actions.
Fubuki, her older daughters, her mother, and the branch members had relentlessly abused Himari to the point that she had attempted to take her life several times. Not once did she or the others apologize or give Himari a chance to breathe and recover.
They just kept going and repeating the same vicious cycle.
What could she possibly say?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing could make up for her failures and behavior.
After several minutes of relentlessly pummeling Fubuki's face, Himari eventually stopped, her breathing heavy and ragged, sweat dripping down her exhausted face. The young Azuma looked at her mother, whose face, despite the abuse, appeared relatively unscathed, before passing out from her injuries and exhaustion.
Fubuki caught her daughter as she fell and held her close to her chest. The older woman sighed heavily, feeling as if she had aged three times over in the past few minutes.
"I'm sorry it took me this long..." she whispered softly, her voice filled with regret and remorse.
End.
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